When
Frank Sinatra
wanted a taste of Hoboken, he came to Matteo's in Westwood. In fact, they
kept a corner booth here (station 8) permanently reserved for Sinatra,
who was in the house on most Sundays. An abstract painting by Frank hangs
near his former booth.

Three U.S. Presidents,
Ronald Reagan,
Gerald Ford
and Bill Clinton,
have dined here. (President Clinton even had Matteo's fettuccine delivered
to the Beverly Hills Hotel when he was staying there.)

Once, back in 1995,
when Ronald Reagan made one of his rare late appearances at Matteo's, he
was sent off with a standing ovation as he left. According to Army Archerd,
Milton Berle, who was entering the restaurant at the same time, jokingly
pretended that he thought the applause was for him. "Hi, Miltie,"
Reagan said.

Original owner Matty
Jordan (born Matteo Giordano) grew up across the street from Frank Sinatra.
In fact, he was delivered by Frank's mother, who was a midwife back in
Hoboken, New Jersey. He worked as a trucker, owned a hot dog stand, and
worked at several other prominent L.A. restaurants before opening his own
place on Westwood Blvd in 1963

They've been catering
to celebrities for almost 40 years at this old-style, Southern Italian
restaurant. And they haven't stopped yet. The new owners brought in a new
chef in 2007 to update the Italian menu, away from the usual red sauce
- but the Matteo 'classics' are still on the menu.

In January of 2000,
Steven Spielberg
threw a surprise 80th birthday party at Matteo's for his mother (who owns
a restaurant herself, called the Milky
Way.) He hired opera singers to entertain, passed out Groucho Marx-style
nose-glasses for guests to wear, and even arranged for Matteo’s kitchen
to be rabbinically supervised to prepare a Kosher birthday dinner for his
mom.

On Father Day of
2001, Bob Newhart's
family took over the banquet room to salute him.

And in March of 2002,
Muhammad Ali
performed some magic tricks to the delight of customers at the bar.

In July of 2002,
Army Archerd reported seeing Courteney Cox
and David Arquette
at Matteo's, as well as Lucie Arnaz
and brother Desi Arnaz Jr.,
Stephanie Zimbalist,
Suzanne Pleshette
& Tom Poston,
Loretta Swit,
and Tony Martin
& Cyd Charisse.

(We warned that the
menu here is a bit on the expensive side.)

Getting
there: Matteo'sis located on the west side of Westwood Blvd., between Pico (on the
south) and Olympic (on the north).not in the Village,
but just one block north of the Westside
Pavilion mall.

This webpage is not associated with any business
described in the article above, and does not constitute an
endorsement of this or any other business. The photos of celebrities on
this page also do not constitute
endorsements by them of any kind, and are used by the author solely to
illustrate this online article.(Click here to read
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